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CNN Saturday Morning News
How Much Impact Did President Bush, Senator's Clinton and Reed's Visit in Iraq Have?
Aired November 29, 2003 - 07:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CATHERINE CALLAWAY, CNN ANCHOR: A day after President Bush's surprise visit to Iraq, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton and Senator Jack Reed visited troops there, after spending Thanksgiving with troops in Afghanistan.
Let's go to CNN's Jane Arraf, who's joining us from Baghdad. Jane, what's been the reaction to the visits there?
JANE ARRAF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Catherine, well, one of the big issues, of course, from that visit is the ongoing attacks on U.S. soldiers. And we've just heard from the top general in charge of U.S. forces in Iraq, a fairly upbeat assessment on attacks on U.S. forces. A few trouble spots, significant ones and the rest of it. And something that may come as a surprise to many people, that although they still have suspicion that al Qaeda is operating in Iraq, so far, they have absolutely nothing concrete.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LT. GEN. RICARDO SANCHEZ, GROUP TROOPS CMDR.: At this point, we still have not conclusively established an al Qaeda operative here in the country. We firmly believe that there are links, both financial and training and ideological links that are present, but we still haven't made that final connection.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ARRAF: Now General Sanchez said that attacks on U.S. forces in Iraq over the past seven days had decreased by 30 percent, even more in Baghdad. They're still, though, at 22 attacks or attempted attacks per day.
And troubling news on the Iraqi front. He said attacks during the holy month of Ramadan, about a month - which started about a month ago, had actually doubled against Iraqi civilian targets and security targets, an indication perhaps that the people behind these attacks are moving to easier targets. And in many case, that is the badly equipped Iraqi security forces and Iraqi police -- Catherine.
CALLAWAY: Jane, what are you hearing from the Iraqi people on the visits that they've had there from the two senators and from the president in the last few days? What's been their reaction to that?
ARRAF: To be perfectly honest, Catherine, it hasn't made a huge impact. Now people here are really concerned with very fundamental things. That safety and security issue that General Sanchez is referring to, whether they have electricity, whether they have water. They know because it has filtered through that there have been visits by these people, including President Bush. But really, they don't feel that it has much of an impact, particularly since they don't see them. These are very security conscious visits.
Obviously, President Bush's visit was made in secret. He spent 2.5 hours in the military camp, did not go beyond. It really wouldn't be expected to have much impact on people on the street unless they're actually seeing them. And so far, the security situation, obviously, is not such that American politicians are going to go walking around -- Catherine.
CALLAWAY: All right, CNN's Jane Arraf joining us from Baghdad. Thank you, Jane.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Reed's Visit in Iraq Have?>
Aired November 29, 2003 - 07:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CATHERINE CALLAWAY, CNN ANCHOR: A day after President Bush's surprise visit to Iraq, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton and Senator Jack Reed visited troops there, after spending Thanksgiving with troops in Afghanistan.
Let's go to CNN's Jane Arraf, who's joining us from Baghdad. Jane, what's been the reaction to the visits there?
JANE ARRAF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Catherine, well, one of the big issues, of course, from that visit is the ongoing attacks on U.S. soldiers. And we've just heard from the top general in charge of U.S. forces in Iraq, a fairly upbeat assessment on attacks on U.S. forces. A few trouble spots, significant ones and the rest of it. And something that may come as a surprise to many people, that although they still have suspicion that al Qaeda is operating in Iraq, so far, they have absolutely nothing concrete.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LT. GEN. RICARDO SANCHEZ, GROUP TROOPS CMDR.: At this point, we still have not conclusively established an al Qaeda operative here in the country. We firmly believe that there are links, both financial and training and ideological links that are present, but we still haven't made that final connection.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ARRAF: Now General Sanchez said that attacks on U.S. forces in Iraq over the past seven days had decreased by 30 percent, even more in Baghdad. They're still, though, at 22 attacks or attempted attacks per day.
And troubling news on the Iraqi front. He said attacks during the holy month of Ramadan, about a month - which started about a month ago, had actually doubled against Iraqi civilian targets and security targets, an indication perhaps that the people behind these attacks are moving to easier targets. And in many case, that is the badly equipped Iraqi security forces and Iraqi police -- Catherine.
CALLAWAY: Jane, what are you hearing from the Iraqi people on the visits that they've had there from the two senators and from the president in the last few days? What's been their reaction to that?
ARRAF: To be perfectly honest, Catherine, it hasn't made a huge impact. Now people here are really concerned with very fundamental things. That safety and security issue that General Sanchez is referring to, whether they have electricity, whether they have water. They know because it has filtered through that there have been visits by these people, including President Bush. But really, they don't feel that it has much of an impact, particularly since they don't see them. These are very security conscious visits.
Obviously, President Bush's visit was made in secret. He spent 2.5 hours in the military camp, did not go beyond. It really wouldn't be expected to have much impact on people on the street unless they're actually seeing them. And so far, the security situation, obviously, is not such that American politicians are going to go walking around -- Catherine.
CALLAWAY: All right, CNN's Jane Arraf joining us from Baghdad. Thank you, Jane.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Reed's Visit in Iraq Have?>
